A Fresh Start
by The Lone Wanderer
Summary: It's Cloud's freshman year at college, and he's determined to make it go better than his high school years. With an interesting roommate, a girl he already has a crush on, and classes he isn't necessarily looking forward to, it promises to be an interesting year.


**This is my first attempt back into fanfiction after a **_**hugeeeeeeee **_**hiatus, but I needed to write something light-hearted and not crazy deep (though this isn't going to be a completely shallow happy-go-lucky story). It's meant to be entertaining, and I know it's not the most amazing writing, but I hope it's enjoyable to read at least!**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the first chapter! I had fun writing it.**

**Obligatory "I don't own Final Fantasy VII"**

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><p>Room 618.<p>

That's where Cloud would be staying for his first semester of university, and he was standing right outside the door. There were no name tags on it, unlike the other doors in the hallway, which left the teen confused and slightly worried.

Did they assign me to a non-available room? He wondered, but tried to push it to the back of his mind. He had his key, given to him by the front desk, so he might as well try it before jumping to conclusions.

The key slid into the lock cleanly, and Cloud heard a satisfying click as he turned the key in the lock. He turned the door handle and pushed, and the door opened, giving way to Cloud's first home away from home.

His roommate, who Cloud still didn't know the name of, was apparently already moved in, and had settled on the left side of the room. Cloud was worried they would have to argue about who got the bottom or top bunk, but both beds were lofted on opposite sides of the room, with their desks underneath, and their dressers at the foot of the bed next to the ladder to climb up. That made things easy.

Pulling his suitcase of clothes inside, he placed his backpack on his chair, and ran a hand through his hair, observing his roommate's side of the room. It was bare for the most part, with a single picture hanging up. It was a painting of a lake bordering a mountain range, and it was beautiful. The lack of decorations made Cloud feel better about his own non-existent collection of posters or wall-hangings.

"Ah . . . ha ha ha," Cloud heard a slow chuckle coming from the door way, and turned to look at who the voice belonged to. The guy was a couple inches taller than Cloud, and had raven hair that rivaled his own when it came to unruliness, though his were more individual spikes rather than the large bunches that were in Cloud's. He had a strong face, and vivid violet eyes that sparkled with amusement at Cloud's surprise at the noise. "Do you like it?" he asked.

Cloud nodded, then gulped. He was never good at making friends, but he had promised himself he was going to make an effort when he got to university. A fresh start, his mom told him, to get over the shyness that plagued him in high school. "I do. Who's the artist?"

The boy grinned and pointed his thumbs inwards. "Me!"

Cloud gaped. This guy, who now that Cloud was looking more, looked more like an athlete than an artist, painted something that looked that good? Well, he always heard that looks could be deceiving. "Does that mean that you're my -"

"Roommate? Yep! Zack Fair, at your service!" Zack shot Cloud another grin and offered his hand. Cloud took it and was once again surprised by the guy. His grip strength betrayed his childish demeanor.

"The name's Cloud Strife."

Zack released Cloud's hand then leapt onto his bed, completely ignoring the ladders. "The RA already told me not to do this, because it's 'dangerous,' but what's life without a little danger, no?" Cloud couldn't help but laugh at his roommate's antics. As Zack lounged back onto his bed, he spoke again. "So what's with the accent?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. He was already expecting a lot of people to find his accent odd, considering where he came from, and going to university at a capital city like Midgar. But that kind of comment coming from Zack was funny, because . . .

"I could ask you the same thing," Cloud shot back, though he found himself grinning.

Zack leaned over to look down at Cloud. "I'm from Gongaga!"

"I'm from Nibelheim. Gongaga sounds so . . . backwater," Cloud found himself saying without thinking, and instantly regretted it. Zack seemed to like him well enough right now, he didn't want to ruin their budding friendship with a stupid comment that could be found offensive.

"Ditto Nibelheim!" Zack laughed and jumped down from the bed, apparently done with his rest. The guy had energy, Cloud noted. He wondered if it was nervousness for being away from home for the first time, or if that's just how Zack was.

"All right, well I gotta run, meeting my parents for lunch before they leave and all that . . . wanna grab dinner somewhere though after our floor meeting?" Zack asked as he began to head towards the door.

"Floor meeting?"

"Yep! 7:00 p.m., right outside in the common room," Zack gave Cloud one last grin, and then he was out the door.

Cloud turned away and sighed, the effects of his trip finally hitting him. He was feeling exhausted, but he still had to unpack . . . as he let his eyes roam over his suitcase and backpack, he decided that unpacking could wait until after he took a nap. He slowly dragged himself up the ladder, and collapsed onto the bed in a manner that he couldn't call graceful. His exhaustion came quick and hit hard, and he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

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><p>"Hey, wake up!" Zack burst through the doorway of the dorm room to find Cloud sleeping. Not a surprise, really. If he had come from Nibelheim, well that was a hell of a trip, and while traveling from Gongaga was no walk in the park, most people didn't have the boundless energy he seemed to have.<p>

"Uh, what?" Cloud rolled over in his bed and began to rub his eyes.

"It's 7:00! They're starting the floor meeting . . . do you really want to be that guy that's the last to show up?"

Cloud shot up in his bed and began to scramble down the ladder. Zack laughed as he slipped and fell, and just grinned when he was given a dirty look. "I'm kidding, it's 6:55. You'll be fine. At least you don't have to worry about your hair, it looks no messier than it did before I left!"

Cloud rolled his eyes and pulled off his shirt, unzipping his suitcase and digging around for a new one. He didn't want to look like a slob to the rest of his floor on his first day here. Jeans, however . . . those could stay on.

"Do I look presentable?" Cloud asked, extending his arms so his new friend could get a better look.

"Of course-you look like best in a show at a chocobo competition," Zack replied with a wink, ducking out of the room before Cloud could yell at him.

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><p>Cloud found himself sitting on the floor in the common room next to an unknown redhead. Zack was on the opposite side of the room, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest as he tapped his foot. That guy has too much energy, Cloud thought.<p>

His thoughts were interrupted by the redhead sitting next to him nudging him in the side. Cloud shot him a glare, but the redhead was already talking, oblivious to Cloud's annoyance.

"Yo, did you know that this floor is co-ed?" the guy asked. "The name's Reno, by the way."

"Co-ed?"

Reno's response was to point at the opposite hallway than the one Cloud's room was in, and as if on cue, a number of girls poured into the common room and began to sit down.

One girl caught his eye: she was fairly short, but had near perfect posture. She had chestnut brown hair with bangs that fell over her face, and a braid in the back that was tied at the top by a pink ribbon. She was in a white sundress with a blue belt and blue polka dots scattered across the fabric. Is that an angel? Cloud wondered, but shook his head at his silly thought. Angels weren't real, but still . . . she was beautiful.

Before he knew it, the floor meeting was over, and Cloud had no idea what was talked about. He looked around, lost, until he felt a hand clap his shoulder, and a voice whisper in his ear, "So, found yourself a girl, eh?"

It was Zack. Cloud rolled his eyes and groaned, shrugging Zack off of him. "Was it that obvious?" he asked, turning around to face his friend.

Zack merely shrugged his shoulders innocently, his face looking as shameless as possible. "I don't know about everyone else, but to me . . . yeah, it was."

Cloud groaned again and smacked himself in the head as he stood up. "I don't even know what was talked about during the floor meeting!"

Zack began walking away from the common room, and Cloud followed him as Zack recounted the events of the meeting. "No drinking in the dorm, no drugs, no fire, etc. etc. Boring stuff, be good, yaddya yaddya yaddya. Anyway, what do you ladies want for dinner?"

Ladies? And then he realized. He had followed Zack right into one of the open doorways of the girls' hallway. And the girls were . . .

One was the angel, and the other was a girl even shorter than the angel, with cropped black hair. She was cute, Cloud admitted to himself, but she looked positively average next to the angel.

Before either of the girls could speak, Zack continued. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself, apologies. I'm Zack Fair, and this lovely guy next to me is my roommate, Cloud Strife. We're in room 618, in the other hallway."

Lovely? Cloud knew that Zack was just joking around, but he still felt his ears getting hot. Zack was talking to these girls so casually, and Cloud was already getting embarrassed. What if they thought he was gay? Then he'd never have a chance with the angel, and he's already thinking about dating her? What the hell was wrong with him?

Cloud tried to extract himself from his thoughts, and ran a hand through his hair, forcing himself to look away from the floor and at the girls as they began to speak.

The black-haired girl spoke first, and she seemed to have an energy level similar to Zack's. "The name is Yuffie Kisaragi!" She was already pulling her shoes on, apparently a fan of the idea of getting dinner with Cloud and Zack.

"I'm Aerith," the angel said, getting out of her chair, and offering her hand to Zack to shake. Rather than shaking it, however, Zack bent down and kissed her hand before staring up at her, waggling his eyebrows. "My, my, what a gentleman," Aerith laughed softly. It was a beautiful laugh, Cloud thought, just like the rest of her.

And what the hell was with Zack? They weren't in the Renaissance era, guys didn't just kiss girls hands. But Aerith seemed to respond well to it . . . Cloud was amazed. Zack seemed perfect. He was friendly, energetic, was apparently a hell of an artist, and talked to girls like it was nothing. Cloud on the other hand was shy, not artistic in the least, and couldn't talk his way out of a wet paper bag.

"If you think I'm a gentleman, just wait 'till you get to know Cloud! One of the best guys I've ever met!" Zack let out a hearty laugh, then winked when Cloud gave him a bewildered look. And he was a good wingman.

"Uh, did you know Cloud before he was your roommate?" Yuffie asked skeptically, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at Zack.

Zack chuckled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, not really, but I'm a pretty good judge of a character. At least I'd like to think so."

"Well, he seems like a nice guy, if he's willing to room with you," Aerith said with a smile. She was funny too. Cloud was smitten.

"What! And to think, the angel has the tongue of a snake," Zack placed a hand over his heart and sighed dramatically. "You wound me."

Aerith waved him away with a hand. "And I thought only girls were supposed to be drama queens." That was met with a grin from Zack. "I did theater in high school, you know."

"Did you really?" Cloud asked. There was no way . . .

"Nah, I can't sing for the life of me." Well, then there was at least _one _thing Zack wasn't amazing at.

"Anyway, food?" Yuffie popped up in the middle of them and waved her arms around to get their attention. "I'm starvin'!"

Zack poked her stomach-how he got away with that kind of stuff, Cloud had no idea-and leaned down to grin in her face. "How does someone so small need more than one meal a day? I mean my dog at home . . . oof!"

Yuffie let out a fist flying towards Zack's stomach, and it connected easily. Zack clutched his stomach, and bowed over, the wind knocked out of him. Yuffie seemed to not realize her own strength, because she quickly began to freak out. "Ohmygawd are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you that hard I'm just so sick of people making fun of my size and-"

Zack looked up and winked at her. "Gotcha."

Yuffie glared at him before attempting to tackle him. "Why you little!"

Zack just let out a guffaw and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and waved Aerith and Cloud forward. "Well, it looks like Yuffie needs to eat so she stops being cranky!" Yuffie started to whack Zack on the head, and he started shouting as he stumbled out of the room.

Aerith looked at Cloud over Zack and Yuffie, and gave him a soft smile. "Well, shall we?"

Cloud stared out into the hallway after the two of them, and then looked back at Aerith, unable to help but smile back. "I guess we don't really have a choice."

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><p><strong>Next chapter: dinner and meeting more people!<strong>

**Reviews are greatly appreciated, but by no means required! Thank you for reading!**


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